China Reassigns 60,000 Soldiers To Plant Trees In Bid To Fight Pollution

According to The Independent, citing the Asia Times, China has reassigned over 60,000 soldiers to plan trees in a bid to combat pollution by increasing the country's forest coverage. The soldiers are from the People's Liberation Army, along with some of the nation's armed police force. From the report: The majority will be dispatched to Hebei province, which encircles Beijing. The area is known to be a major culprit for producing the notorious smog which blankets the capital city. The idea is believed to be popular among members of online military forums as long as they can keep their ranks and entitlements. It comes as part of China's plan to plant at least 84,000 square kilometers (32,400 square miles) of trees by the end of the year, which is roughly equivalent to the size of Ireland. The aim is to increase the country's forest coverage from 21 per cent of its total landmass to 23 per cent by 2020, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Comments

China has also announced who will manufacture...

[arglebargle_xiv]

... the trees: Zhongshan Tandem Plastic Products Co., Ltd, Yuhuan Xushi Plastic Industry Co., Ltd, and Ruian Jinda Plastic Machinery Co., Ltd.

Re: How's the tree "planning" going then?

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that proofread is one word right? https://www.google.com/search?q=proofread&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Re:It's a great idea

[Barsteward]

i'm positive this scenario completely escaped them, you'd better get on the phone and warn them and sharpish

Re:China has also announced who will manufacture..

[magarity]

Can't come from China if it's supposed to increased the forest-covered area from 21% to 23%

Don't have much experience with official Chinese government issued statistics, do you?